[3rd POV]
After Claire had walked over to the front door to let Gloria and the others in, Billie turned to Haley.
"How much do you wanna bet Manny's brought something weird with him, or is dressed weird?" Billie asked, as her girlfriend looked over at her with a deadpan.
"That is a losing bet, and you know it" Haley replied, as Billie let out a chuckle, before Gloria walked in, Jay following moments later.
"Ah, Billie! I'm glad you're here!" Gloria said with a bright smile, as she wrapped Billie into a tight hug, not giving her the chance to say a word. This was the first time they had seen each other in a bit, so Billie could only assume that she was reacting this way due to the music video.
At least that's what she assumed.
"What, did you think I wouldn't come? I wouldn't miss this for the world, Gloria" Billie responded with a smile of her own, as she pulled back from the hug with the older woman.
"Yes well, you hadn't said anything about coming, so I was not sure!" Gloria replied with her thick accent. She had been worried about Billie over the past few days, and was happy to see that she had decided on coming to the holiday with the family.
Jay walked over and gave her a small nod.
"Glad you're here kid" Jay said simply, as he walked away to grab something to drink. There was wine and some other stuff that Claire had prepared beforehand. Haley had chosen some apple cider, while Billie had just stayed with water.
"Where's Manny?" Billie asked, noticing the kid hadn't entered yet. Gloria blinked at the question, as she looked around. She also noticed that her son was not there, and instantly turned to glare at Jay, who looked away.
'Ah...looks like he made fun of the poor kids art' Billie thought, remembering this episode. She didn't really contemplate the episodes or anything, and didn't like to think of everyone around her as fictional or anything.
She preferred to live her life, and go with the flow. Otherwise it might make her think of them in a way she didn't want to. So she tended to ignore the fact that she was in a world full of what she used to see as fictional characters.
While Gloria was looking around for Manny, Claire spoke up, as she finished setting up the table.
"Alright everyone, come on. Two minutes until dinner. Get ready" Claire said, as she clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. Billie handed Claire her dish of stuffing, as the woman put it onto the table with the rest.
Thankfully, it was still warm.
A chorus of "alright" echoed through the room, as everyone began to move about.
Many walked in a few moments later, as Claire noticed him, and then noticed what he was holding. The object itself was...rather interesting looking, Billie noted. It was some sort of sculpture, and was...abstract.
That was the nicest way she could describe it. It was honestly kind of funny, because the sculpture itself wasn't even remotely the worst she had seen. The modern art she had seen over the years is even worse.
Like the ones where it's just a splotch of paint, or when it is a literal banana.
Not exactly art in her eyes.
"Oh, wow, Manny. What have you got there?" Claire asked, trying her best to sound nice when she asked. As it was admittedly an ugly sculpture.
"He made a centerpiece" Gloria answered for him, a proud glint in her eyes.
"Oh wow fantastic" Phil said genuinely, being nice. He also actually liked it. It was unique and odd, but he liked that sort of stuff.
"Stunning" Cam added, also agreeing. Albeit not at the same level as Phil.
Manny moved to throw it in the trash, while saying "It's garbage" only for Billie to reach over and snatch it from him.
"Hmmm, I don't think so, personally" Billie said, looking it over.
"Agreed! It's beautiful!" Gloria said, giving Billie a thankful look as she put the centerpiece to the side.
"Stop the lies, Jay told me the truth" Manny said, looking a bit sad as he remembered the mans words.
"What did you say?" Gloria asked with an accusatory glare at her husband.
"I mentioned it wasn't his best effort" Jay replied with a shrug.
"He said it was a swing and a miss" Manny added, as Billie continued to look it over.
Billie had to admit that it was weird and strange looking, but she did know of a few places where it genuinely would fit in perfectly. Mainly the art museums that used strange and odd art.
His centerpiece was right out of one of those places.
"Why? Why do you say these things, Jay? It's like I married my mother!" Gloria asked, as Billie glanced to the side, only to notice Alex and Haley who were looking anywhere but towards their mother.
Leaning over, she whispered to Haley as the others argued "You okay there babe? You look worried about something" Billie asked, as Haley jumped and shook her head.
"Nope! I'm fine, perfectly, completely, absolutely-" "You mean you're not worried about the new dent your moms car is sporting?" Billie's sled, cutting off her girlfriend as Haley stilled.
"...I hate that you are so observant sometimes" Haley grumbled, as Billie smirked.
"No you don't" Billie replied. Haley just huffed as she glanced away, hating to admit that Billie was once again correct. She loved that Billie noticed things that others did not, especially about her.
It was a huge part of her charm.
"You can just tell her you know, you've got money to pay for it now" Billie said.
"Yeah but it's more so the fact that I got it damaged in the first place that is going to be the problem" Haley whispered back, as Billie hummed.
"And was the damage your fault?" Billie asked, and was surprised when Haley shook her head.
"No. When Alex and I got back from shopping it was already like that" Haley said, as Billie realized that something had changed. Probably because of her influence.
"Babe, that's a hit and run, meaning that you need to tell your mom so she can report it to the police. It's not your fault that some douche hit the car and ran off" Billie responded. Haley stared at her before sighing.
"Alright, I'll tell her after dinner" Billie smiled at her girlfriends words, before looking back over at the family that was arguing.
When Billie looked back at the argument, she blinked when she noticed Phil was now sporting his "Real Head-Scratcher T.M" as he had dubbed it. And he looked a bit down.
Phil walked off to put the head scratcher away as it got stuck to his head, obviously failing before Cam began.
"You know what Phil, keep it up. And I admire you and Manny. I know what it's like to stare down the skepticism of a loved one" Cam said, giving Mitchell a pointed look.
"Cam not now" "Why not now? It's thanksgiving. Families gather. Issues come up"
"Only if you bring them up" Jay said, not wanting an argument to start before they could even start eating.
"It's healthy to get things out in the open. Y'all know my Punkin Chunkin story or do you need a refresher?" Cam asked, looking around the room.
"We've heard it" "Oh several times" Both Jay and Claire said.
"I love it, with Cody and the friends" Gloria said, talking about his story about launching a pumpkin in a catapult, and launching it far.
"Mmhmm, you texted me about it once when you were drunk" Billie added, as Cam looked at her in surprise.
"Yeah, you're a drunk texter Cam. I've gotten a lot of stories from you, and I don't think you even remember telling me half of them" Billie said, noticing the look she was getting.
"Anyways, so you all know how it ends. But the question is, who here thinks I made it up?" Cam asked, as Jay, Claire, Alex, and Mitchell raised their hands.
"Oh, well doesn't that tell the whole story right there" Cam said, looking at the group that raised their hands.
"Here we have the skeptics. The dream squashers. The Pritchetts" Cam said, before looking back at the rest.
"And here we have the dreamers, the artists, the visionaries" Cam said, motioning to the others who were in the kitchen area of the dining room.
At the same time, Phil let out a "Sweet Caroline!" As he got his head scratcher off....finally.
"So we're supposed to believe that you make a pumpkin fly across a football field?" Jay asked incredulously. The others in the group chuckling at the words.
"You know that's a sport, right?" Billie asked, as he stopped.
"What?"
"Yeah it's an annual sport. I looked it up after Cam told me his story. And it's an actual thing. It's been around since the 80's. And there's even a world record, which is like 5000 feet or something like that" Billie replied, as the group of skeptics looked at her in surprise.
"You're kidding" Alex said, not believing her.
"Just look it up. It's a real sport. Cam's story is really true" Billie replied with a nod, as Cam gave her a smile.
"Hah! Told you! And thank you Billie, for believing in me" Cam responded with a smile, thankful.
"Not a problem. Oh, and Manny?" Billie said, looking at the boy who looked over at her.
"Your art might not be the most...beautiful. But it isn't any lesser for it. It's still art, just not the normal kind. When you have the time, look up the MOBA in Boston. It's an actual museum dedicated to art that is deemed as "Bad". You might find that not all "Bad" art is all that bad" Billie said to the boy, who looked at her before beaming.
He decided to look it up once he got home.
He also decided that Billie was his newest favorite artist, and he'd need to learn more about her music.
"And if you don't believe me, why don't we go down to the local football field and launch some pumpkins after we eat?" Billie offered, as Phil grinned.
"Yeah! Pritchetts vs Dreamers!" Phil said, as they all began to move to eat, eager to see if Cam was really telling the truth.
And as Billie moved to sit at the dinner table, she smiled as she saw everyone talking, and she knew deep down...
That she had found her family.
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That's the end of the chapter!
A bit of a longer chapter to make up for the last ones. And I wanted to have Billie actively change things in this and future canon episode events.
Anyways, have a good day!